Brown, Ashby tipped for 100m crowns

DARREL BROWN and Fana Ashby will be aiming for gold in the 100-metre sprint today as the National Senior Track and Field Championships begins at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo. First event in the two-day competition will take place from 3 pm. Brown, the 2001 national champ, was the runner-up to close friend and Auburn University teammate Marc Burns last year. With Burns missing this year’s version due to school commitments, the 18-year-old Brown is heavily favoured to reclaim the title, in his first race on local soil since he won the 100m at the CARIFTA Track and Field Championships in April. But the World Junior champ will not have things so easy when he goes to the starter’s blocks in today’s final, with national junior 100m winner Dion Rodriguez, Clemson University student Jacey Harper and Abilene Christian University sprinter Niconnor Alexander among the reckoning. Ashby, who completed the sprint double at last year’s contest, will face Wanda Hutson, who copped the 100-200m double at the National Juniors last weekend and the consistent Kelly-Ann Baptiste in both today’s 100m final and tomorrow’s 200m showdown.

The men’s 400m final this evening is also an eagerly anticipated race, with defending champ Damion Barry of Kansas City Kansas Community College (KCKCC) facing the likes of Ato Modibo, Simon Pierre and youngsters Joel Pile and Jamil James. Tobago-born Sheridan Kirk, also enrolled at KCKCC, will meet the promising Simeon Bovell in the two-lap final tomorrow while Melissa De Leon is expected to take gold in the women’s version. As far as the field events are concerned, all eyes will be on the women’s shot putt, with WITCO Sportswoman of the Year Cleopatra Borel and Candice Scott the top contenders for the gold medal.